They look poor, only because infantry sections are overpowered AF. Grenadiers perform worst then rifles and cost more, PGs cost ridiculous 300 MP and cant even 1v1 rifles\tommies most of the time, before you pump 300MP worth of upgrades and 100 muni LMG.
If DAK wasn't abusing bersaliery\guastatori and wehr wasn't going luft 99% of the time, rifles would be fine.
Gustatori have 40mp reinforce cost, US sniper obliterates DAK manpower and DAK already has massive MP shortages as all their upgrades are very MP expensive, mainline costs 300 or 320 and does not live up to its cost.
Against DAK, Rifles are perfectly fine and perform accordingly to their cost, its when LVs show up when US starts to struggle if no AT is present.